THE GOATSUCKER. 



375 



thickets, or round the trees, to prey upon those in- 

 sects that do not take to the wing till nightfall. That 



bird is 



THE GOAT-SUCKER. 



Tn many parts of the world, more especially in warm 

 and swampy forests, such as those of America, that are 

 much infested with evening and nocturnal insects of 

 large size, the goatsuckers are abundant both in spe- 

 cies and in individuals; but with us, where the number 

 of such insects is less, and their appearance confined to 

 the warmer months of the summer, there is only one 

 species, a summer visitant, and, though pretty exten- 

 sively scattered over the country, by no means nu- 

 merous. That is the common goatsucker (caprimulgus 

 Europceus,) which has been accused of draining the 

 teats of goats and other quadrupeds, an office for which 

 the structure of its bill is by no means fitted, and 

 which, indeed, it could not by possibility perform ; 

 though, in warmer countries, it is often found under 



